Papua New Guinea leader pushes for death penalty

SERIOUS CRIMES:：A spate of horrific crimes against women, like being burned alive for alleged witchcraft, has moved the prime minister to urge harsh punishment

AFP, SYDNEY

Thu, May 02, 2013 - Page 6

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has announced a renewed push for the death penalty, and life sentences for rape, saying that “draconian” penalties were needed to tackle violent crime.

O’Neill said the impoverished Pacific nation would also repeal its controversial Sorcery Act, meaning any black magic killing would be treated as murder, while unveiling tough new punishments for drug and alcohol offences.

It follows a spate of horrific crimes against women including a beheading and the burning alive of a mother accused of witchcraft, as well as the gang rape of two foreigners last month, drawing international condemnation.

“There will be maximum penalties that have never been seen before in this country,” O’Neill said, according to Papua New Guinean media reports yesterday. “We are serious about addressing this issue. We will regulate and pass laws that some people in our country may find draconian, but the people are demanding it.”

The Papua New Guinea government has received more than 100 petitions from human rights and other groups across the globe calling for urgent action on the spike in violence this year.

In February a 20-year-old mother accused of witchcraft was stripped and burned alive in front of a crowd at a village market, and an elderly woman was beheaded last month after being accused of black magic.

Also in April, an Australian was murdered and his friend sexually assaulted by a group of men, followed barely a week later by the ambush of the US researcher, her husband and their guide on a wilderness track.

Central to the law and order push is a drive to revive the death penalty, which is currently in place for treason, piracy and wilful murder, but has not been used since 1954, when Papua New Guinea last carried out an execution.

O’Neill said the government would “strengthen it further” by reviewing existing laws to allow for its “full implementation,” though it was not clear whether the scope of offences punishable by death would be broadened.

Any killing linked to accusations of sorcery would now be treated as a murder under a repeal of the Sorcery Act, which international human rights groups and the UN have been lobbying for.

Though it criminalizes the practice of sorcery — in which there is a widespread belief in Papua New Guinea, where many people do not accept natural causes as an explanation for misfortune and death — the 1974 act has been criticized.

Human rights groups said it led to an increase in false accusations by people against their enemies and gave the notion of sorcery a legitimacy it would not otherwise have had.

All rapes, including those carried out in gangs, would attract a penalty of life in prison without parole, with a new maximum 20 year jail term for making home-brewed liquor and a ban on selling alcohol between 2am and noon. Marijuana and other drug cultivation would be punishable by 50 years in prison; consumption of drugs would have a maximum 10 year jail term.

O’Neill said he would also propose the establishment of an isolated island prison for high-risk offenders, including murderers and those serving a life sentence.

“I want to assure the country that we will review some of the legislation in respect of some of the behavior that is now happening,” O’Neill said.

The reforms are expected to come before Papua New Guinea’s parliament later this month.